Flotsam: How to Get Fresh Water (Desalinator, Solar Still & Firewood)

Fresh water is the fastest way to lose a Flotsam run. Food shortages develop slowly; a water shortage stops production, then morale, then the town. The fix is not complicated, but it has two halves — the Desalinator and the firewood that feeds it — and most collapses happen because only the first half was built.

The short answer

1. Build a Manual Power Generator before energy runs out.
2. Queue four more planks and build a Desalinator.
3. Keep firewood queued continuously. The Desalinator burns it.
4. Add a Solar Still when you can research passive water.
5. Replace the early juggling with a Large Desalinator in the mid game.

If you are already dry, skip to why your water keeps dropping and work the checklist.

The Desalinator is the first real supply

The Desalinator does one job: it turns seawater into fresh water. In the 1.0-era guide it comes immediately after the Manual Power Generator, and both are built from planks made at a Woodworking Shed. That ordering is deliberate — a Desalinator with no power is a decoration, and a Desalinator with no firewood is a slower version of the same problem.

Two public beginner guides, one written for 1.0 and one for 0.3.7, both budget four planks for the Manual Power Generator and another four for the Desalinator. The 1.0.1 storage update changed several building costs, so confirm the current price in the build menu.

The building also needs a worker. Flotsam does not run buildings by themselves just because they exist; a drifter has to be assigned, and the job has to be a reasonable priority on the Drifter Duties screen. If the Desalinator is staffed by a drifter who is also the only cook on the town, both jobs will run badly.

Firewood is the second half of the chain

A Desalinator without firewood is the most common water failure, and it is easy to miss because the water bar looks fine until it suddenly is not.

• Drying Racks turn wet driftwood into dry wood.
• The Woodworking Shed turns dry wood into planks and firewood.
• The Desalinator burns firewood to make water.

That means the water chain starts at the floating wood, not at the water building. Keep firewood queued even when the water bar is full; the buffer is what carries you through a bad salvage patch or a town move. Public guides describe queuing it continuously rather than in one big batch.

Solar Still: passive water

The Solar Still is the no-fuel option. Public Early Access guides describe it as producing water passively, which makes it a useful supplement when firewood is tight or when a small outpost is far from the main production line.

The passive, no-fuel behaviour of the Solar Still is documented in 2019-era community guides. It has not been confirmed in 1.0.1f7 for this page. Check whether the current build still lists a fuel input before you plan around it.

Do not treat the Solar Still as a replacement for the first Desalinator. It is a supplement, and the research points spent on it compete with the fishing and power nodes you need in the same period.

Large Desalinator: the mid-game fix

Both 1.0-era beginner guides point at the Large Desalinator as the upgrade that makes water stop being a full-time job. It is a research unlock, and the exact cost is not published in the sources checked here.

The practical reason to build it is not that it produces more water per second — this page will not invent a number — but that it centralises a job that was previously spread across several buildings and several drifters. Fewer buildings to staff means fewer places for the chain to stall.

Where the water goes

Drifters drink. The town HUD tracks a shared water total, and each drifter's own panel shows a personal hydration bar next to food and health. A drifter who is thirsty loses morale and work speed, and the morale panel lists the penalty directly.

Fan sites quote approximately 0.5 water per drifter per day, 3 water per day from a Desalinator and 1 per day from a Solar Still. Those numbers come from one fan tools site that describes them as approximate. Pajama Llama has not published them, so this page does not present them as exact.

The useful rule from the same fan source is not a number but a habit: keep several days of water in reserve before adding drifters or expanding the town. Treat it as advice, not a hidden game rule.

Why your water keeps dropping

Work through these in order. Each one tests a different link in the chain.

• No firewood. Check the Woodworking Shed queue and the storage yard that feeds it.
• No worker. Open Drifter Duties and confirm someone is assigned to the water building at a useful priority.
• Output storage full. If the fresh-water storage has nowhere to put the next unit, production stops.
• Building paused. Check whether the building was switched off during a town move or a layout change.
• Too many consumers. New drifters, rescued survivors and animals all add demand. Stabilise the supply before recruiting more.
• The town is moving. Sailing takes drifters away from production and can interrupt the firewood loop. Fill the buffer before a long move.
• Pollution. A polluted water source or a sick workforce slows everything; clean food and cures are part of the fix.

What this page has not verified

Checked against public sources on 6 November 2026, not played through in 1.0.1f7:

• The current plank cost of the Desalinator;
• Whether the Solar Still still works without fuel;
• The per-drifter water consumption rate;
• Whether the Large Desalinator's output or staffing differs from the Early Access version;
• Whether the 1.0.1 storage changes altered water storage capacities.

If the in-game build menu or a building panel disagrees with this page, the game is right.

Read next

• Beginner guide: first-day build order: where water fits in the opening.
• How to get food: the other survival chain, and why fish beats seaweed.
• Survivors and specialists: who staffs the water buildings and why morale matters.